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So there are several things that don't fit for me in your post. First, your post assumes a mercenery style campaign. One with the stock stadard cliched D&D tropes. I actually never play these style games. Second, I always cut the "find the adventure" crap out of my games. We have a plan for...

A stray cat, even a recurrent stray cat, would not catch my interest. I hate cats. I have never made a character with any interest in cats. I like to play heroes, and if I was told that I had to perform a good deed that was worthy of what I saught, I would not go into the Humane Society...

I actually like how the Gumshoe system works in this regard. Just tell the players what the clues are, don't make them search for them or roll to see if they find them. "These are the facts, maam." Never trust a player to pick up a clue. Throw it in their face.

I didn't mention The Westmarches because it requires a pretty huge up front investment, and I am not sure that it gives the kind of mystery for the GM that was a goal of the OP. The Westmarches is a great way to sandbox, but I kinda feel like a true sandbox is counter to the stated goals of the...

This trick has many permutations, but I think that my personal favorite is called "The Mountain Witch trick." In short, introduce a feature to the fiction in only the loosest details, then ask a player to flesh it out through in-game description. EX: "You see a figure dressed in foreign cloths...

It really does sound like you want to play, but you have no one else to GM. My solution would be to try a GMless game. There are several that are good and produce something like what you describe. Low prep and allows everyone to participate in the mystery of world exploration. I have several...

Just to be contrarian, could you address the Drow? Yes, the DM has to play to it. I hear over and over again where DMs say that they pay attention to the things that interest players, and I hear over and over again about the amazing and detailed worlds that DMs have created, but any DM that...

This is both the most gross mischaracterization of a post I have read in a while as well as a perfect example of a slippery slope falacy. I am not even sure that I will be able to respond in a way that will be understood. My point is that I think that choices should be meaningful, and that when...

I didn't just say difficult. I said difficult/interesting. Maybe a little obtuse way of saying it, but meaning that the choice should be made meaningful in the game, not something that is just a box checked on a sheet. If the player goes out of their way to make their PC their opposite gender...

Most instances of "doing it badly" that I have witnessed have been when someone was really trying to make gender apparent as a player. Gender is one of the things that other players and the GM should be highlighting, not the player of the character. How does the orc shieftain treat the female...

I find it strange that this is even a question. Who cares what I play? RAWR, I'M A MONSTER!!!! We are all just making this stuff up.

I have to say, this was my experience of GMing for most of my GMing career (on and off since 1987). It was only until I started playing Indie games the last couple of years that this has not been a problem for me. They have mostly given me and my players the tools necessary to avoid the "spoon...

Check out these ideas on the FATE wiki on advancement. There are other ideas out there as well, but most are incarnations of some od these.

I recommend FATE. It is the rules system that Spirit of the Century is based off of. You can find the SRD for SotC here, and the FATE wiki here. Can't beat the price for checking it out. Best. Game. Ever. ;)

You wanted them to retreat so as to not get slaughtered. You changed how the dragon acted based on that desire. That was metagaming to achieve a desired outcome. Call it railroading if you like. I don't call it that. That is why I didn't say that.;)

Nice summary. I tried to say this in the original thread. I like communication.

I can see where you are coming from Bullgrit, but I am still sorta more in line with Piratecat. You gave hints, you pulled punches, and you actually metagamed the entire encounter trying to get the PCs to do what you wanted, without telling them what you wanted, and if they knew the dragon...

I find this interesting. Why did you play it that way if it wasn't enjoyable to either you or the players? Many people would say that it was played that way because you didn't want to metagame. I would say that I have enough of "not metagaming" in real life, and I want fun in my games...

I very much second Mallus' Spirit of the Century recommendation. It is a pulp 20s era game built with the FATE 3.0 engine. Rules light and very fun. Here is a good summary of how you play. Here is the SotC SRD. Here is a wiki that discusses all kinds of ways to adapt FATE to other genres. Best...

Is there a good resource out there that is free that is basically just a bunch of fantasy themed lists? I am interested in seeing something like that, but my limited googging didn't turn anything up. I figured that I would quit screwing around and just go to a good source for this kind of info...